Vargas jumped in his car and drove over to García’s apartment, where he met up with Torres. It only took a few seconds for them to establish which two keys matched the locks on the front door. Vargas prised the mystery key off the brass key ring and held it up in the air.

“What are the odds that this baby fits the lock to García’s secret hiding place?”

An hour later, the two detectives were back in Vargas’s office where they were joined by a local locksmith who was scrutinising the key. Vargas began the questioning.

“Señor Rivas, it would be incredibly helpful if you could tell us where this key might have been made and what sort of lock it might fit.”

The old man ignored the question and continued to rotate the key slowly between his thumb and index finger. Eventually he gently rested it on Vargas’s desk and began his analysis.

“This is a cruciform key. It has three sets of teeth that are located at a ninety-degree angle to each other. While it is very easy to duplicate this type of key, it is incredibly difficult to pick the lock. It’s typically used to protect garages or small warehouse doors.”

Torres was impressed by the swift diagnosis. “Do you think there’s any way of tracking where it was originally made?”

“I’m afraid not. I would guess it’s at least fifteen years old and therefore the lock it fits is of a similar age.”

Vargas moved across and shook Rivas’s hand. “Thank you for coming in, Señor Rivas. You’ve been a great help. How quickly could you make ten duplicates?”

The old locksmith picked up the cruciform key. “You’ll have them by this time tomorrow.”

* * *

Nobody in the boardroom mentioned that Herrera wasn’t there. Rumours had been flying around the office all morning. The main one doing the rounds was that he had fallen out with Paz and left town in a hurry. An alternative version suggested the Black Scorpion had taken him out, although nobody could think of a valid reason as to why that might have happened. Whatever the truth, none of the men were about to ask Matias Paz if he knew of Herrera’s whereabouts, and no one knew quite what to expect when he entered the boardroom.

Paz could sense the anxiety among the men as he took his usual seat at the head of the table.